Top State Officials Get Raise

Only Burris, Kustra Take It

July 02, 1993|By Rick Pearson, Chicago Tribune.

SPRINGFIELD — Atty. Gen. Roland Burris, one of three Democratic statewide officeholders considering a run for governor, is the only one who will keep a cost-of-living pay increase that went into effect Thursday.

Aides to Comptroller Dawn Clark Netsch and Treasurer Patrick Quinn, who are also exploring gubernatorial candidacies, said their 2.4 percent raises would be turned over to charity.

In fact, of Illinois' six statewide elected officeholders, only Burris and Republican Lt. Gov. Bob Kustra have decided to keep the pay increases.

GOP Gov. Jim Edgar has turned his last two raises back to the state treasury, but has been too busy with the state's budget stalemate to make a decision about the new one, an aide said. Republican Secretary of State George Ryan said he would turn over the pay hike to a charitable cause, as he has done in the past.

Burris is expected to announce his gubernatorial candidacy in August, with Netsch, Quinn and Cook County Board President Richard Phelan as possible Democratic primary opponents.

An aide to Burris said that he would keep the pay increase, as he has done in his two previous years as attorney general.

"He doesn't set his own salary; his salary is set by the General Assembly," said Burris spokesman Jim Leach.

Under the state's independent Compensation Review Board, hundreds of elected officials, judges and state officials receive an annual July 1 cost-of-living pay increase, equivalent to a U.S. Department of Labor inflation index.

With the pay increases, Edgar's salary goes up $2,416 to $103,097; Kustra's is raised $1,706 to $72,775; Burris and Ryan get increases of $2,132 to give them each $90,968 for the fiscal year; and Netsch and Quinn get pay hikes of $1,848 to bring their salaries to $78,839.

Kustra, who last year donated his after-tax pay increase to the United Negro College Fund, will keep the pay raise this year, said Jim Bray, the lieutenant governor's chief of staff.

"He is the lowest paid constitutional officer with some 3,000 state employees being paid more," Bray said. "Obviously, he will still make charitable contributions, but do that privately."

The state's judges would see increases ranging from $1,933 to $2,416, depending upon what level of the judicial system they serve.

And, the state's 177 lawmakers will see their base salary increase by $924 to $39,420 per year.